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The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra
WOOMYUNG CHOE, conductor
Saturday, May 16, 2009 — 8 p.m.
Brahms
Academic Festival Overture, Opus 80
Chausson
"Viviane," Tone Poem, Opus 5
Liszt
Totentanz, Paraphrase on Dies Irae, G. 126
Schmidt
Symphony No. 1 in E Major
The Greater Newburgh Symphony Orchestra, directed and conducted by Woomyung Choe, presents its Season Finale on Saturday, May 16, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. in the Newburgh Free Academy High School Auditorium, 201 Fullerton Ave., Newburgh, NY. Versatile international pianist and recording artist Peter Muir is welcomed back to perform Totentanz, Paraphrase on "Dies Irae" by Franz Liszt.
Totentanz (Dance of Death)is a symphonic piece for piano and orchestra based on the Gregorian plainchant melody Dies Irae, notable for daring stylistic innovations that were shockingly modernistic. Hungarian composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886) explored, expanded and revealed the full potential of the piano more than any other composer in history. The lush blankets of sound that he summoned from the instrument were strikingly novel, and they profoundly expanded the possibilities for all that followed. Liszt's music evoked deep psychological and emotional impact, increasing awareness of the immense impact music could have on humans. He was the first to ever attempt using music as therapy.
Since graduating from the Royal College of Music in London, Peter Muir has performed on four continents to wide acclaim. Performances of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the London Municipal Orchestra--and with GNSO last season--were met with enthusiastic audience response and rave reviews.
Muir specializes in ragtime, blues and early jazz, playing at festivals and concerts worldwide. Following in Franz Liszt's footsteps, Dr. Muir founded and is, with his clarinetist wife Judith, co-director of the Center for Personal Development through Music in Verbank, NY, a nationally recognized center pioneering the use of music for well-being (www.cpdmusic.com). His book, Long Lost Blues: The Rise of Blues in American Popular Culture is scheduled for publication by Illinois University Press this year.
The evening begins with the Academic Festival Overture in C minor, Opus 80 by Germany's JohannesBrahms (1833-1897). Composed as a "thank you" after receiving an honorary doctorate from
the University of Breslau, it is an example of Brahms' sense of humor--a combination of solemn grandeur and delicious irreverence. The Overture sparkles with some of the finest virtues of Brahms’s orchestral technique, sometimes applied for comic effect with student ditties and a memorably triumphant finale.
Viviane, Tone Poem, Opus 5, by wealthy Parisian Ernest Chausson (1855-1899), is not the familiar Vivien of Tennyson--treacherous, malignant, wanton--but the vastly different Viviane of old French legend. This delectable creature who fired Chausson's imagination was a fairy who inhabited the forest of Broceliande. His tone poem Viviane was dedicated to his wife Jeanne Escudier. Chausson's flourishing career was cut short by a cycling accident.
In conclusion, GNSO will perform Symphony No. 1 in E Major, an unjustifiably neglected work by Austrian composer Franz Schmidt (1874-1939). While youthful and energetic, this first of four symphonies is a finely crafted, impressive composition. It was premiered in the newly built Concertverein in Vienna in 1902 when Schmidt was a 22-year-old cellist in the Vienna Philharmonic. Receiving much critical approval, even the formidable music writer Eduard Hanslick prophesied a rich future for the composer. His music remained little-known to non-Austrian audiences until CD recordings in the 1990s documented several of his works.
The Shacklett Preview at 7:00 p.m. is a pre-concert introduction to the evening’s music by Gordon Shacklett. Ticket prices are $25 for reserved seating, $20 for general admission, $15 for seniors, $10 for students, and children under 7 are admitted free of charge. Tickets may be purchased at the door or reserved. (845) 913-7157 or www.newburghsymphony.org.
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